Originally posted on January 8, 2017, this recipe has been updated with Instant Pot instructions for the easiest, no fuss belly warmer ever!

Hey peeps! Anyone else have the entire family sick over the holidays?? It really seemed to be going around this year! Actually, the hubs managed to escape the madness – though it’s hard to say which is worse, actually being sick or having to take care of all the sickos. Truly, I think I’d rather be sick. I mean, sure you feel like garbage, but you’re also forced to take a break from the usual chaos (sometimes one needs to be forced), drink tea, watch TV and if you’re lucky, slurp up this soup 🙂

You guys. I really can’t even properly impress upon you the feel-better magic that is this soup. But I’ll try.

Things I love about this soup:

Not only does this soup only contain 4 ingredients, but 3 of those ingredients are probably in your house right now, go check!

It’s super easy to keep all ingredients on hand at all times – 2 pantry items, plus eggs and grated parmesan cheese (you never know when an emergency need for Feel Better Soup will strike, so it’s good to be prepared)

So quick (we’re talking 10 minutes max, people) and easy that even if you feel like death, you can probably make it for yourself (take that chicken noodle!)

It’s seriously comforting.

Thick and warm, your sore throat never had it so good.

Not that you care about this when you’re sick, but it’s healthy and 21 Day Fix approved.

It’s freaking tasty whether you’re sick or not. We make it for lunch on the regular.

It’s pretty darn economical.

It feels like home. Ok, this one is probably just me, but still.

A little backstory: The original recipe for this was called Pastina (or at least that’s what we called it) and although there are many similar variations of this made in my family, this is my mama’s (and seriously the best one – sorry, Gram!). It’s basically an Italian version of egg drop soup and I don’t ever remember a time when I was sick when my mom didn’t make it for me. Because she’s the best and I’m the luckiest <3 . And now I make it for my girls* so that one day they can tell anyone who will listen that I was the best 😉

If you haven’t heard of it before, pastina is a pasta shape. Super tiny, star-shaped and basically as adorable as a pasta can get. Let me tell you how I searched and searched AND SEARCHED for whole wheat pastina. Apparently such a thing does not exist. But before I crafted a strongly worded letter to Barilla – I thought I’d try something out first.

Whole wheat couscous, which is really just teeny tiny pieces of pasta anway.

Sure, it’s not star shaped, but once the soup is made you can hardly see those stars anyway. So I made a batch and it was perfect. I couldn’t tell the difference and neither could the girls.

Here are the ridiculously simple steps:

*Speaking of the girls, it was my now-5-year-old who originally dubbed this “Feel Better Soup” when she was 3 or 4. We all thought it was so cute that she called it that, that we all started calling it that and it stuck 🙂

I hope this recipe becomes a staple in your home the way it is in mine.

If you make this recipe be sure to snap a pic and tag me @thefoodieandthefix on Instagram so I can check it out! It makes me ridiculously happy to see what you guys are making ?

4-Ingredient Feel Better Soup {21 Day Fix}

Yield: 2 Servings

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 (32 oz) box of low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup whole wheat couscous (dry, uncooked)

2 eggs

2/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Optional: chives

Optional: a pinch of salt

Instructions

Stove top Instructions:

In a medium pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add the couscous (and the pinch of salt if using) and cook until very, very soft.

While the couscous is cooking, in a small bowl, beat together the eggs and cheese with a fork.

Once the couscous is fully cooked, turn the burner off and stir in the egg/cheese mixture one forkful at a time until all of the mixture has been added. Add in some snipped chives if ya like and enjoy!

Instant Pot Instructions:

Add the broth and couscous to the Instant Pot. Lock lid and set on manual for zero minutes (yes, zero!). Quick release when finished.

While the couscous is cooking, in a small bowl, beat together the eggs and cheese with a fork.

Once the Instant Pot beeps and the quick release is done, remove the lid and stir the egg and cheese mixture into the pot by the forkful until all of the mixture has been added.

Add in some snipped chives if ya like and enjoy!

Notes

I've been told that quinoa makes a great substitute for the couscous in this recipe if you can't find whole wheat couscous. If making it with quinoa in the Instant Pot, cook on manual for 1 minute, QR.

Love this! I’m feeling under the weather today but know I’ll be having matzoh ball soup tomorrow for dinner so didn’t want a chicken soup. I made the swap with rainbow quinoa since I had it on hand. I also didn’t have quite enough chicken stock so I used a cup of water instead. Still delicious and exactly what I needed. I will be making this again for sure – it defintely tastes similar to the patina I make but this is a much healthier version with the quinoa. Thanks for this one!

Hey Alex! I’m so glad you liked it! Most likely you just needed to let it cook a little longer. The couscous gets cooked more here than you would normally cook couscous and soaks up more of the liquid. Hope this helps!

Hi Tiffany! This makes a large serving because there are 4 cups of broth here. There is only 1/4 cup of dry couscous per serving (which makes 1/2 cup cooked, which is one yellow). It gets really thick (and looks like a ton of couscous) because of the egg and grated cheese that’s in it. I hope that makes sense!

Hey Annette! This is a tough one for me (mainly because I really hate quinoa, unlike basically the rest of the world!)… I would say that it would have more of a chew to it, whereas, the couscous gets really soft. Also, the quinoa has a bit of a flavor to it which the couscous doesn’t have, so in that respect it would be different. I think it’s doable if you like quinoa, but it wouldn’t turn out quite the same. I hope that helps!